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Started watching this a while ago, and it's actually not as bad to watch as one might think. It's more that this series for me is in a 'not to be taken with high expectation and just watch for fun' which is actually going well in that regard.

Though the 'monster' designs are mixed, some ok (aka Blaster Blade) while others horrid, I'm looking forward to more monsters being shown later in the series.

Why is Blaster Blade considered so good? 9000 doesn't sound like a lot. It's less than Galatin's 10000.

I think it's mainly his counterblast that's so impressive for a grade 2. The power is also pretty good compared to other grade 2s (I think the only stronger grade 2 we've seen is Genocide Jack at 11,000, but that card's gimped and you can't attack with it unless you pay 1 a turn)

Pay 2 when you ride him and you can retire 1 of your opponents rear guard.
That lets you kill an extra enemy in an undefendable way, and can completely screw up your opponents defense early in the game since it's just a grade 2.

I'm actually a little in doubt here too, can someone please translate the card description above for both of them. In the old yu-gi-oh style a lower grade of same power would be obviously better on virtue that you don't need to sacrifice to summon it like if it was grade 5/6 (1), 6/7 (2). But doesn't seem to be the case here.

Simply put you can get grade 2s in play faster than grade 3s in vanguard, since you have to ride in order of grade.

Blaster Blade, however, is still not as good as any grade 3, though, because only grade 3s have Twin Drive, and critical triggers are your main method of damaging your opponent (at least, in the anime that's the case), the first player to ride to grade 3 is at a serious advantage.

So it's the best grade 2 we've seen by most measures, but it's not something you want to ride all the way to the bank (haha)

It hasn't been made clear AT ALL in the anime so far, but there are some basic abilities that each grade card has

Grade 0 and 1: Boost. All called "support". This is when you add the power of the card in the back row to the one in the front to increase the attack power.

Grade 2: Intercept. This is when you move a card in a rear-guard position into the guard circle to shield an attack. It basically means you can call any grade two in those positions as a shield card. Note that all grade 2s have shield values, but no grade 3s.

Grade 3: Twin Drive. You can check for drive triggers twice when attacking.

These abilities are only given to their respective grades. You'll never get a grade 2 with twin drive or a grade 0 with intercept, etc... And every card of those grades has those abilities. At least, that we've seen. I suppose it's theoretically possible they'll throw some exception into the mix since it's marked with a separate icon on the card.

Also, I think that only grade 0s are trigger cards. Have we seen an example of a drive trigger card that wasn't a grade 0 yet?